Mom and Dad do Italia

So after our miserable day in the London airport, I came home and got three hours of sleep, woke up, took a train to Milan and met Mom and Dad! Good thing I was so excited to see them because otherwise I would have been so grumpy and cranky from lack of sleep and from exhaustion of traveling!

3/29 - 4/6

I started my trip to Milan from Florence early in the morning and sat next to a family that included Mom, dad, three children and another man who seemed to be their Uncle. I could not keep my eyes off of them because the way they treated their Uncle and the way he treated them reminded me so much of Uncle Johnny. I swear, he was UJ. It made me so jealous of them that they were with their Uncle who they obviously adored and that I haven't seen UJ in so long! As soon as I got to Milan, I told Dad that I wanted to call UJ as soon as we could! And I did! :)

We went to Lake Como for the day, which was absolutely beautiful, even in the rain. We took a ferry around the Lake, which gave us a view of the Alps (that had snow on the tops!) and each of the towns around the Lake. Afterwards, we took the ski lift ride to the top of the mountain, which gave us a beautiful view of the Lake and the towns surrounding it.

We took a train back to Milan, where Mom and Dad had their first authentic Italian meal! They each had spaghetti, while I had a huge pizza - Mom and Dad were so shocked at the size of pizza, which has become a normal thing to me, and that I ate almost the entire thing. I am pretty sure they were also shocked that we had to pay extra for the bread that sits on the table before the meal, and that there is no tap water here, and that they don't give you butter for bread (duhhh). Mom and I had some delicious red wine, which we couldn't even finish, and I ended up missing the last train out of Milan to Florence, so I had to stay the night in the Marriott with them... which was so comfortable!

Mom and Dad took a later train back to Florence on Monday and I met them after my classes. For the next two days we took tours around the city and we even climbed thet Duomo together. It seemed like they were shocked at the lack of politeness the Italians have, which has become natural to me again - some lady knocked me in the shoulder in the sidewalk and i didn't even notice as Dad was looking back and waiting for her to apologize to me, haha, Welcome to Italy!

The picture to the left is of Mom, Dad and me on the top of the Florence Duomo, overlooking the city.

On Wednesday, we took a train to Assisi and Thursday we visited Formia - the hometown of the Forcinas, De Stefanos and Di Nuccis. I had already been to Formia, but it was even prettier this time because of the sun and warmth. We looked for the cemetery and asked for help from two Italian men who were walking on the water near us, and they actually offered to drive us there, which was so nice of them. It is a good thing I speak Italian, becaus eotherwise Mom and Dad would probably still be at the Milan train station right now! We spent about an hour in the cemetery, where we found a million Forcina graves, and also a lot of Di Nucci graves (Grandpa's family before he was adopted). We were surprised that we didn't see an De Stefano graves, but we think they are in a different cemetery. It was amazing to see all of this - it was like the Forcinas owned the town of Formia! It made me really feel at home and it made me miss Grandpa so much more than I already do since I am getting so in touch with my roots while I am here. I am so glad that Daddy had the opportunity to visit this town because all of his family comes from it and I am pretty sure he is happy he got to see it as well. He will always remember it, as will I. To the right is a picture of Daddy and me on the shore of Formia.... many generations later visiting our roots!

The names on the gravestones included:
Giuseppa Forcina
Maria Forcina (2)
Antoinette Petrone
Palma Forcina
Assunta Forcina
Maria Di Stefano
Salvatore Forcina
Pasqua Forcina
Giuseppina Forcina
Luisa Forcina
Teresa Di Nucci
Carmina Forcina
Salvatore Di Nucci
Antonio Forcina (4)
Alessandro Forcina (2)
Civita Petrone
Carlo Di Nucci
Innocenzo Di Nucci
Alessandra Forcina
Paolina Forcina
Salvatore Forcina
Anna Di Nucci
Angelo Di Nucci
Pasquale Forcina
Salvatore Di Nucci & Anna Forcina (married... how ironic!)
Elisabetta Forcina
Gemma Forcina
Teresa Forcina
Gelsomina Forcina
Vincenzo Forcina
Antonia Forcina
Ciro Di Nucci
Benadetta Di Nucci
Erasmo Forcina
Emilia Forcina
Amato Forcina
Guido Forcina
Giuseppa Di Nucci
Vincenzo Di Nucci
Antonio and Gelsomina Forcina
Filomena Forcina
Antoinetta Forcina
Erasmo Di Nucci
Giovanno Di Nucci
Concetta Di Stefano
Flora Forcina
Daniele Forcina
Amelia Di Nucci

Unfortunately we still have to find Grandpa's biological mother's name from his birth certificate, to see if any of these were his biological mother. It amazes me that we have found this many ancestors in one little cemetery, and these weren't even all of them.

On Friday, we went to Venice and on Saturday and Sunday we stayed in Florence for the day because we were too tired to travel anymore - the Cinque Terre train was too long and Dad didn't feel like taking another train ride. I told him I'd send him pictures. To the left is a picture of Daddy and me on the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

While we stayed in Florence, I introduecd MOm and Dad to Luca, who sold Dad a leather wallet and leather belt, and Mom got a leather purse and she got me one too! They discussed serious business about partnering up for a leather company in America. Luca is such a sweet boy and told my parents that he would keep an eye out on me, Pot and Marielle. He told them the funniest little Italian stories and kept us entertained while we were in Florence for those days. He still tells me everyday as I pass his store that he has Mom and Dad's number and will call them if I am getting myself into any trouble... he is too funny!

The picture to the left is of Mom and me on the gondola in Venice.

Well, Mom and Dad completely wore me out! And the day that they left, Katie visited Patee and me from Spain! She was on spring break for Holy Week, and was exploring Italy for the week so she came and stayed with us Monday night. Since UNC was in the national championship, we of course had to go watch the game with the entire program at Red Garter, which was hosting the game on TV via Internet illegally. We had to be quiet because it is illegal to keep a bar open after 2 a.m. here... the game started at 3:30 a.m. our time, and yes, we stayed up to watch it and I still made it to class the next day (it was way too hard!). Of course, with UNC winning and being on the UNC program, everyone was super excited and pretty much no one else made it to class the next day - apparently a lot of people almost got arrested at 6;30 a.m. when they left the bar and were chanting "tarheels" on the streets, haha. Anyways, I had so much fun catching up with Katie, and she made me miss home even more too. She has been hre since August and goes home in about a week, so she is definitely ready to be back in America. To the right, the above picture is of Marielle, me and Patee, and the below is of Katie and me at the game.

After Katie left, I was finally finished being a tourguide for a week! I relaxed the rest of the week and got ready to travel yet again on Thursday for the Bay of Naples...